Handling of hot metal stock preparatory to its reduction by rolling



June 2, 1931. J. R. GEORGE ET AL 1,308,033

HANDLING OF HOT METAL STQCK PREPARATQRY TO ITS REDUCTION BY- ROLLING Filed July 5, 1929 Inventors Amome R.,GZOR.Q Aomws A Bwzu flttorneg 1 Patented June 2, 1931" UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE A JEROME R. GEORGE AND AMES A. BUELL, OI WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS T MORGAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ACOR- IPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS HANDLING 0! HOT METAL STOCK PEMARATORY TO ITS vRlilDUC'JJION' IBY ROLLING Application filed July 5, 1929. Serial No. 378,205.

The present invention relates in general to i the handling of hot metal stock, preparatory to the reduction of the same by rolling. In particular, the invention resides in anovel and highly useful arran ement of the'heating furnaces for saidstoc in relation to the conveying mechanism by which said stock, as delivered from said furnaces, is forwarded to the rolling mill. The several features and advantages of our invention will appear from the following detailed description thereof, in connection with which reference is had to the accompanying drawing, whose single figure is a diagrammatic plan view of an arrangement of apparatus embodying our invention. The usual practice, where billets or bars of relatively large section are to be rolled in a mill, is to provide for their heating in furnaces of the type which discharge the billets, by broadside movement, onto a roller conveyor which delivers them, longitudinall to the initial reducing rolls of the mill. eating furnaces of this type, arranged with their discharge ends alongside the common roller conveyor, are usually equipped at said ends with swinging doors that open up when a billet is to be discharged broadside therefr0m,this permitting, by the length of the openmg, a considerableamount of cold air to enter the furnace at each discharge therefrom of a'billet. In such furnaces with discharge openings at their ends, the broadside movement of the billets is fre uently' a gravity movement, down an incline hearth, and this necessitates a charging platform at the other end of each furnace that is well above the level of the other mill apparatus.

Furthermore, it is the usual practice, under the conditions above set forth, to provide a discard table, alongside the usual roller conveyor, for the reception of such of the billets as might be held .on said conveyor for so long a time as to become too cold for rolling. These discards represent a considerable loss unless they can be reheated, and when furnaces of the above described gravity-dis charge type areused, it is necessary, in order to reheat these discards, to transport them all the way to the opposite end of the furnace where the charging opening is located; it is impossible,with such a furnace, to put a billet back. through the discharge opening. Our invention overcomes the difiiculties above enumerated by a radically new arrangement of-the billet heating and handling apparatus, as follows a Y Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 represents the first stand of rolls of the mill, and we have shown conventionally at 2, 2 the usual series of conveyor rollers constituting the feed table for said mill, onto which the heated billets or other stock are delivered, for longitudinal transportation to the rolls 1. A plurality of heating furnaces, here shown as three in number, and designated 3, 4 and 5, are provided for the heating of said billets; these furnaces, instead of being of the usual end-discharge type, for the broadside delivery of the billets onto the rollers 2, 2, are of a different type, namely the Well-known sidedischarge type which provides a suitable relatively small opening 6 in the side Wall of the furnace through which each billet is pushed longitudinally by the action of a suitable pusher 7 against its rear end.

According to our invention, one of these side-discharge furnaces, here shown as the furnace 5, is placed so as to aline its 'discharge opening 6 and pusher 7 with the conveyor rollers 2, 2, while the other furnaces 3 and 4 are placed alon side the conveyor rollers 2, 2, preferably w1th their dischar e 1 from the furnaces 3 and 4 by broadside move-' ment thereof, on the rollers 2, 2. In this way,'- 1

the delivery of billets to the conveyor rollers 2, 2 from each of the furnaces 3, 4 and 5 is accomplished by a furnace discharging operation that minimizes the inrush of cold air to. the furnace interior, since the side openings 6, 6 of these furnaces for the endwise movement of single billets are very small by com- V must move broadside.

The location of one of the furnaces (the' furnace 5) with its side-discharge opening 6 in line with the rollers 2, 2 is of particular importance as regards the handling and reheating of billets which, for one reason or another, may be delayed on the rollers 2, 2 until they become too cold for rolling in the mill. According to our invention, thenecessity for the usual discard table, to receive these billets that require reheating, is entirely eliminated by the provision of a set of pinch rolls 9, interposed between the end of the roller table 2 and the discharge opening 6 of the furnace 5. Said pinch rolls are here shown as driven b a reversible motor 10, and thus they can e operated in one direction to project the billets as discharged from the furnace 5 onto the roller table 2, or in the other direction to take a billet already on said roller table and project it longitudinally into the furnace 5, for reheating. In other words, any billet previously delivered to the roller table from any one of the three furnaces 3, 4: or 5, which, for any reason whatever, may be withheld from presentation to the rolls 1, need not, as in the usual case, be transferred onto a discard table; on the contrary, the delivery of such withheld billet or billets, by

reversal of the rollers 2, 2, is towards the pinch rolls 9, and the latter, under these circumstances, are run in such a direction as to project each withheld billet into the furnace 5, through the side opening 6 of the latter. In this way, not only is the usual discard table dispensed with, but furthermore, the

problem of handling, transporting and reheating-such of the billets as may be withheld on the roller table is very greatly simplified, since the arrangement permits any such billet to be promptly inserted in the furnace 5, and held there, under heat, until an opportunity, for rolling said billet is presented.

We claim, 1. The combination, with a feed table for the endwise movement of heated stock to a rolling mill, of a plurality of furnaces from which the heated stock is delivered to said feed table, one of said furnaces at the end of said feed table remote from said mill having a side-discharge opening in alinementlivery onto said table of the stock contained in said furnace, and the other furnaces having their ends arranged alongside said feed table and providing side-discharge openings for the endwise delivery of the stock therefrom in a line offset from said feed table.

3. The combination, with a feed table for the endwise movement of heated stock to a rolling mill, of a plurality of furnaces from which the heated stock is delivered to said feed table, one of said furnaces at the end of said feed table remote from said mill having a side-discharge opening in alinement with said feed table, for .the endwise delivery onto said table of the stock contained in said furnace, and the other furnaces havother furnaces.

4. The combination, with a feed table for the endwise movement of heated stock to a rolling mill, of a plurality of furnaces from which the heated stock is delivered to said feed table, one of said furnaces at the end of said feed table remote from said mill having a side-discharge opening in alinement with said feed table, for the endwise delivery onto said table of the. stock contained in said furnace, and means interposed between said feed table and said side-discharge opening for delivering into said last-mentioned furnace, through said opening, any of the stock on said feed table that requires rcheating.

5. The combination, with a feed table for the endwise movement of heated stock to. a rolling mill, of a plurality of furnaces from which the heated stock is delivered to said feed table, one of said furnaces at the-end of said feed table remote from said mill having a side-discharge opening in alinement with said feed table, for the endwise delivery onto side-discharge opening, whereby any of the stock on said feed table may be projected endwise through said opening into said lastmentioned furnace for reheatin 6. The combination, with a feed table for the endwise movement of heated stock to a rolling mill, of a plurality of furnaces from which the heated stock is delivered to said feed table, one of said furnaces at the end of said feed table remote from said mill having a side-discharge opening in alinement with saidifeed table, for the endwise delivery onto said table of the stock contained in said furnace, andsaid other furnaces having their ends arranged alongside said feed table, with side-dischar openings for the longitudinal delivery stock therefrom in offset relation to the line of said feedtable, and a common receiving means for the stock as delivery by, each pair of said other furnaces, said receiving means being operable to procure the broadside movement of the stock thereon to said feed table.

7. In the handling of hot metal stock, preparatory to its reduction by rolling, the improvement which consists in procuring endwise delivery of successive pieces of stock' from a plurality of heating furnaces havin their ends arranged alongside a common fe table for the endwise movement of the stock to a rolling mill, and transferring to said common feed table, by broadside movement, the stock so delivered endwise from said furnaces.

8. In the handling of hot metal stock, supplied from a plurality of heating furnaces to a common feed table for delivery, by the lat ter, endwise to a rolling mill, the improvement which consists in procurin endwise discharge of the stock from one 0 said furnaces onto one end of said feed table, through a side-discharge opening of said furnace alined with said feed table, and from the other furnace or furnaces, arranged alongside said feed table, procuring endwise discharge of the stock through side discharge openings thereof in a line offset from said feed table, from which line the stock is adapt- :dbfo be. transferred broadside to said feed 9. In the handling of hot metal stock, supplied from a plurality of heating furnaces to a common feed table for delivery, by the latter, endwise to a rolling mill, the-improvement which consists in alining the side discharge opening of one of said furnaces with said feed table, at the end of the latter remote from said mill, and procuring, selectively, the endwise discharge of stock from said furnace onto said feed table, or the endwise movement of stock from said feed table into I said furnace through said openin for neheating of said last-mentioned stoc JEROME R. GEORGE. JAMES A. BUELL. 

